From the Superintendent

6/4/2014

Colleagues:

House Bill 362 passed the Ohio legislature yesterday, bringing changes to the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System. These changes allow teachers, schools and districts increased flexibility as they work through the evaluation process. This legislation will be effective for the 2014-2015 school year, so your district can choose to take advantage of these changes as early as this August.

The first change to the teacher evaluation system allows for less frequent evaluation of our highest achieving teachers, while still providing them with feedback on their work. The second change will allow new flexibility to consider an additional measure to student growth and observation in a teacher’s evaluation as 15 percent of the evaluation. Districts will have the choice between the current or new alternative teacher evaluation structures. The increased flexibility will allow districts to customize their evaluation timeline and system to better reflect their school, district or community values.

This summary of changes will provide you with more details on the revisions to the Ohio Teacher Evaluation System. I realize that you are going to have a lot of questions about these changes. We are working to provide you more detailed guidance on House Bill 362 as soon as possible.